]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/10/29/ghost-recon-commander-shelved-dev-team-laid-off/feed/1Ghost Recon Commander planned as independently profitablehttp://www.vg247.com/2012/05/23/ghost-recon-commander-planned-as-independently-profitable/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/05/23/ghost-recon-commander-planned-as-independently-profitable/#respondTue, 22 May 2012 23:25:08 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=261097Newly launched Facebook game Ghost Recon Commander isn’t just a shill for Future Soldier, but is expected to stand on its own feet.

That’s according to Chris Early, Ubisoft’s vice president of digital publishing, while speaking to VentureBeat:

“We look at it – at every game in the companion gaming strategy – as its own stand-alone game and its own stand-alone business venture,” he said.

“We are planning that Ghost Recon Commander is a profitable game on its own, that entertains players all on its own, and you never have to play another Ghost Recon game, and you’ll have a great experience playing Ghost Recon Commander. From a business standpoint, this game will stand up and be profitable on its own.”

Commander does give some benefits to those who play other Ghost Recon titles like Future Soldier and an upcoming free-to-play PC title, but while Early expects some “cross-pollination” between the various releases, it’s not the point of Commander.

“The basic premise is to entertain Ghost Recon fans and be stand-alone games and stand-alone businesses,” Early reiterated.

Ghost Recon Commander was developed by Loot Drop, and was designed primarily by industry legend Brenda Brathwaite.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/05/23/ghost-recon-commander-planned-as-independently-profitable/feed/0Ghost Recon Commander now livehttp://www.vg247.com/2012/05/21/ghost-recon-commander-now-live/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/05/21/ghost-recon-commander-now-live/#respondMon, 21 May 2012 06:17:37 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=260332Ghost Recon Commander, the new social game from industry veteran Brenda Brathwaite, is now live on Facebook.

Developed by Loot Drop, the social company founded by Brathwaite and long time collaborator John Romero, the game is described as a “strategic combat experience that challenges everything you know about Facebook games”.

This sounds like more than marketing hyperbole; at first announcement, Brathwaite outlined her design philosophy as “I don’t want to visit my friends. I want to kill them”.

Ghost Recon Commander is the latest of Ubisoft’s tie-in efforts; an experimental, internally-developed Assassin’s Creed Facebook boasted cross-game mechanics with Brotherhood, and won reasonable praise. Future Soldier, Commander’s mothership, launches at the end of the month on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/05/21/ghost-recon-commander-now-live/feed/0Ghost Recon Commander shoots up Facebook this springhttp://www.vg247.com/2012/04/04/ghost-recon-commander-shoots-up-facebook-this-spring/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/04/04/ghost-recon-commander-shoots-up-facebook-this-spring/#respondWed, 04 Apr 2012 17:37:02 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=248936Ubisoft has dropped some details on its Facebook game, Ghost Recon Commander, as well as some shiny new screenshots and a video to go along with the official announcement.

Developed by Loot Drop, as revealed yesterday, the game is being described as a “fast-paced tactical combat game” while maintaining the approachability Facebook gamers have come to expect.

In the game, players will be able to develop their own “Ghost,” and use near-future tech to take command of the battlefield. The game will also tie into Ghost Recon: Future Soldier and Ghost Recon Online by allowing players to unlock exclusive items and bonuses for a head start when playing the console and PC titles.

Features in Ghost Recon Commander include:

Gamer on the Go: Players have the ability to pick up where they left off in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Commander; it doesn’t matter if they’ve been away from the game for a day or for an hour, time is not a constraint.

Customization: Ghosts can be upgraded and customized with state-of-the-art weaponry, armor and near-future gadgets.

Asynchronous Co-op: Players will be able to have friends join them on missions or offer themselves up as a mercenary for hire.

It’s out in the spring and a mobile version is in development as well.

The Facebook-based game, which will later come to iOS, is called Ghost Recon: Commander.

Brathwaite expressed her design manifesto via TwitPic. A veteran of over 30 years experience, Brathwaite described herself as “a long-time fan” of the Ghost Recon franchise.

“For me, working on this franchise is a dream come true,” she said.

Details are extremely thin on the ground at the moment, but there’s a Facebook page you can check out, which includes a link to Like the forthcoming app in order to have a shot at beta access.

Like Ubisoft’s (rather good) Assassin’s Creed Facebook game, it is expected to tie-in with the upcoming Ghost Recon: Future Soldier somehow. Pocket Gamer spoke to Chris Early, Ubiosft’s senior vice president of digital, who said the games share more than lore.

“You’ll have advantages in one game that you’ll unlock by playing the other game,” he said of the relationship between the two titles.

“It’s not just a one-time item unlock. The more you play each of those games, the more benefit you create in terms of the other gameplay experience. So, by playing Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, you’ll be able to unlock characters you can use in the Facebook game, plus currency, experience points, items etc that you can use in the social and mobile game.

“And – conversely – by playing the social and mobile game, if you’re playing at work at lunch, or in a break, you’re continuing the character progression. You’ll unlock items and experience points bonus and currency in Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.”

Early wouldn’t give details of how the game will work but emphasised that having plenty of friends to play with would be an asset.

“You’ll actually need your friends to play the game. We’ve got some twists that will make it a new style of social involvement on Facebook,” he said.

“There’s a lot of familiarity in some aspects of the game, but we would be doing ourselves a disservice if we just stopped there.

Ghost Recon: Commander has not been dated. Developer Loot Drop was co-founded by Brathwaite and long-time collaborator John Romero.